


Four Gigs and a Birthday Party

by lily_superlock



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: And a happy ending, F/M, Just some wank that I wrote for Tumblr tbh, M/M, Some angst, Uni AU, lots of pining, oh and jealous!arthur, oh the pining, plenty of misunderstandings, very jealous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 19:33:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4889362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lily_superlock/pseuds/lily_superlock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A jump-straight in Uni AU where Merlin plays bass guitar in a band and Arthur can't stand it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever Merthur fic and it's just a short piece I wrote in my spare time for Tumblr. Let me know what you think.

“You look like a prat,” Arthur said at the same time Gwen said, “oh my god, Merlin. You look incredible.”  
Merlin rubbed his eyes subconsciously.  
“Lance said it was part of his ‘aesthetic’ for the band, whatever that means.” Merlin glimpsed his reflection in his pint glass. He had on dark eye liner, his hair ruffled and he had borrowed a stripy sleeved Sex Pistols top that Lance had insisted he wear.  
“You’re like a fully fledged member now,” Gwen gushed.  
"Only for a month, this is temporary.”  
Lancelot had begged Merlin to fill in on bass after Leon decided to take a trip round Italy for his Art History module. For one month, Merlin would be filling in on stage at the Bronze, the on campus bar, every Thursday night.  
“Since when have you played Bass anyway?” Asked Arthur for the third time that week, swilling round his beer.  
“There’s lots you don’t know about me,” Merlin grinned. Arthur opened his mouth to retort but Merlin cut him off, “right-o, I better get back stage, we go on in five.”  
“Don’t cock it up,” Arthur said at the same time Gwen said, “good luck”.  
“Don’t worry, this is something I’m actually good at.”  
And off Merlin went to find Lance and warm up.

A gig is a gig is a gig, and this one was the same as all the ones he’d done before. Once the lights hit you on the stage, the rest of the room is in darkness, you’re blind past the end of the stage. Merlin had always thought people who made TV programs and films where the lead singer, usually some studded guy with a leather jacket and stubble, was staring dreamily into the eyes of some fan, usually a painfully average girl, the kind everyone can relate to, must have never been on a stage before because that would be impossible. It’s like staring into headlights. You just stare ahead and try to look confident. Normally he would smile but apparently smiling wasn’t part of Lance’s moody blues meets late 80′s punk vibe he had going. So Merlin just strummed his bass and opened his mouth at the appropriate times and that’s all there was to it.

After the gig, he found Gwen and Arthur still at the same table and Arthur slid him a pint without saying anything. Lance came over too and Gwen covered him in kisses, saying very loudly (probably for the benefit of the besotted looking girl at the next table) about how cool her boyfriend was.  
“You sang?” Arthur asked, staring into his pint, like he did so often. Merlin wondered what was so fucking fascinating about his drink.   
“Yes, that’s very observant of you, Arthur,” Merlin quipped.   
“Oh shut up and drink your pint.”   
“Merlin, you were so good,” Gwen said smiling, arm linked with Lance.  
“Yes, he’s a good fit,” Lance agreed.  
“And you never told me you could sing,” Gwen accused. “You have all these hidden talents, Merlin.”  
Merlin shrugged. Yes, and many more hidden talents actually.  
“Plus, it was, you know, very hot. Basically the entire room is checking you out right now,” Gwen continued. Merlin and Arthur both turned around to scan the room and see what she was talking about.  
“You’re both so subtle.”   
“Sorry,” Merlin said, turning back round. “Tell me, anyone good looking?”   
“There’s a blonde guy in the far corner. Got that sort of broody thing going on,” Gwen said indicating to her right. Merlin snatched a glance, so did Arthur. She was right, he was good looking, a bit older than Merlin but definitely sporting a look that could break hearts.  
“Definitely out of your league,” Arthur chimed. Gwen pointedly ignored him.  
“That being said, there’s also three girls on your left giving you the eye and giggling. The barman has been giving you the once over ever since you walked in and that was before you even played. And I heard a guy talking to his friend about how he wanted to know what those fingers felt like on him instead of on that bass guitar, when I went to the toilet. So you could pretty much have anyone here,” Gwen continued.  
Merlin flushed.   
“This is ridiculous,” Arthur said affronted and he was doing that thing where he stares into his drink again.  
“You jealous?” Merlin jibbed.   
“What?”  
“For once it’s not you getting all the attention,” Merlin said, sipping his beer.  
Suddenly another drink was being put down in front of Merlin.  
“Hi, I thought you might like a drink,” it was the broody guy from the far corner. Except he wasn’t in the far corner now, now he was standing next to Merlin smiling down at him.   
“Oh, but I already have a drink.”  
“He means thank you,” said Gwen.  
“Yes, sorry, I mean thank you,” Merlin corrected.   
“I’d argue that two drinks are better than one,” the guy said, winking at him and yes, that’s something Merlin could agree with. And from there, Merlin got sucked into a conversation with the guy.

A few months ago this would have been perfect. But a few months ago, he hadn’t met Arthur and hadn’t irrevocably and very unfortunately fallen head over heels for his irritating prat of a room mate. Merlin needed to get over it. Arthur clearly wasn’t interested, in fact as far as Merlin was aware, Arthur wasn’t really interested in men at all. So maybe a nice chat with a guy in the local bar was a good thing. He’s 21 and single for god sake, he should be doing questionable sexual acts with strangers he met whilst drunk!

“We’re going to head back now,” Gwen said in a lull in the conversation, indicating to her and Lance. How long had him and the guy been chatting for?  
“Oh right, of course, have a good night,” Merlin said smiling and he looked around the table. “Where’s Arthur?”  
“Oh he went back a little while ago, said he was tired.”  
“Oh.” Merlin hadn’t even noticed him sneak off.   
Then Gwen and Lance left with a kiss on each of Merlin’s cheeks, leaving the two of them.

Two hours, four shots, three more beers and some awkward dancing later, Merlin was pressing Edwin (which turned out to be the guys name) up against his front door for what was going to be a good night kiss and turned out to be six minutes of tonsil tennis and groping which reminded him very much of his teenage years.

Suddenly the door opened and they both toppled inside.   
“I can hear you out here,” Arthur said, looking thoroughly irritated. Merlin blushed furiously. Edwin seemed entirely unphased.  
“Shit, sorry, Arthur,” Merlin said guiltily.   
“I should go anyway,” Edwin said politely. “You’ve got my number.”   
He gave Merlin a peck on the lips and left, it all seemed a bit PG after the groping.   
“Did I wake you up?” Merlin asked, going over to his bed and shrugging out of his ridiculously tight skinny jeans.  
“No.”   
“You just left earlier, you didn’t even say good bye.”  
“Well, you were entertained. Besides I thought you’d go back to that guys house,” Arthur said and god, he sounded tired. Why did he sound so tired? “Instead you just dry humped him against our front door like some harpy,” he added, sounding a bit less tired.  
“Well I was thinking of inviting him in but…”  
“Oh god, I didn’t need that image. You are not allowed to bring people back here. It was bad enough listening to you, I don’t need to see it too.”  
It went quiet for a little while and Merlin stripped off his top and put something comfy on to sleep in. Normally he’d change in the bathroom but he was drunk and the alcohol was wearing him down, time to pass out soon.  
“So…” Arthur said, lying down on his bed. “Are you going to call him?”  
Merlin looked over at him.   
“I don’t know. He’s not really…” Merlin paused. Not really what? He’s not really Arthur. “…my type.”   
Arthur nodded.  
“Plus, you’re right, he’s terribly out of my league.”  
“Merlin.”  
“Besides he was an awful kisser, just awful,” Merlin said smiling over at Arthur.  
“I didn’t need to know that, Merlin,” Arthur said but he was smiling back.   
Merlin laid down on his bed.   
“Really bad. All tongues and teeth.”  
“Go to sleep, Merlin.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Are you sure you can’t come?” Gwen asked Arthur for the 100th time since she’d got to theirs. It was Thursday again and she’d come over around 6ish to have some pre drinks with Merlin before the gig.  
“I told you, I have an essay to write,” Arthur said. “Besides, I don’t really need to hang around and watch Merlin being chatted up all night.”  
“You know jealousy is an ugly emotion,” Merlin said. He and Gwen were sitting on his bed as she carefully applied his eye liner. Merlin had attempted to do it himself which resulted in him stabbing himself in the eye and Arthur cackling and saying something about his terrible hand/eye co-ordination.

It seemed strange to Merlin that Arthur had decided not to come. Last week he’d insisted he go, he was adamant even though Merlin had tried to persuade him not to come.

“Seriously Arthur, you don’t have to come.”  
“I know I don’t have to, I want to.”  
“I don’t really think it’s your kind of music.”  
“Well, it’s good to have new experiences.”  
“I’ll probably be terrible anyway.”  
“Even more of a reason to come.”  
“Actually no, I’ll be bloody good. I’m good at this.”  
“Well, I’ll have to come then, it’ll basically be a miracle for you to be good at something. Can’t miss history being made.”

An hour later, Gwen and Merlin were off.   
“No bringing guys back to the apartment,” Arthur called after them. “Go to theirs or do it out on the green like the harpy you are!”  
They’d definitely be some attention at the gig tonight but maybe not the attention Merlin wanted.

***

Merlin got back to the flat a little after 1 am, sporting a very bloody nose and a darkening bruise on his left cheekbone. He was hoping Arthur would be asleep but no such luck.  
“Jesus, Merlin,” Arthur said at the sight of him, immediately getting up from his desk and coming right into Merlin’s personal space. “What the hell happened?”  
Merlin shrugged. “You should see the other guys.”   
And Arthur should. Okay so Merlin is pretty much a pacifist but using his magic to win a fight against three big guys who attacked him seemed fair enough to him.  
“Other guys?”   
“They jumped me outside the bar,” Merlin explained.   
“Fuck,” Arthur said, taking Merlin’s face with his thumb and index finger, examining the damage. “How many of them?”  
“Three.”  
“Why did they do this?”  
“They didn’t say much. Dumb homophobes probably didn’t have anything clever to say.”   
“They did this because you’re gay?”  
“That seemed to be the gist of it. They kept calling me 'pretty little gay boy’ so I’m assuming that was their motives.”   
Arthur flinched a little, his hands still on Merlin’s face.  
“Did you tell Campus security? They should call the police,” Arthur said.  
“Tomorrow. I will tomorrow.”   
“It’s a miracle they didn’t break your nose,” Arthur said, finally retracting his hand and walking away, into the bathroom. Actually they had broken his nose but he’d done a quick fix with magic. For some reason, he couldn’t stop the damn bleeding though.  
Arthur returned with a cold flannel and passed it to Merlin.   
“I should have come,” Arthur conceded.  
“Then we both would’ve had bloody noses and what would be in the point in that?”  
“I could have taken them.”  
“Sure, Arthur, sure.”  
Arthur sat down on Merlin’s bed facing him, watching him dab the blood away.  
“Not such a good night then? I was expecting you to be out until the late hours, frolicking on the green with some guy or whatever it is that you do.”  
Merlin sat down next to him, he felt uncomfortable under Arthur’s careful stare.  
“It was a good night until this happened. Even got some girls number,” he said, retrieving the flyer she’d written it on the back off. “I think she’s more your type though than mine.”   
“Yeah?”  
“Dark hair, big blue doe like eyes,” Merlin said softly.  
“What?”  
“That’s your type, right?” Merlin offered. Arthur was staring at him like he’d just grown another head. Maybe it was a bit weird to say you’ve noticed your friends 'type’. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything. “She’s really very pretty,” he added, feeling self concious.   
“Oh,” Arthur said, eyes snapping away. “How do you know what my type is?”   
Yes, he’d definitely made it weird.  
“I’ve just noticed that when you say someone is hot, they tend to have correlating features,” Merlin said, trying to sound as casual as possible.  
“You’re such a nerd, Merlin.”   
“You could call her if you like? See if she’ll agree to a pity date,” Merlin said smiling.  
“I don’t want your sloppy seconds, Merlin.”  
“I thought I was going to be getting nice and drunk and getting some action tonight,” Merlin said defeated, laying back.  
“Well, we still could.”  
“What?”  
“Get drunk. Maybe not the getting action, but I’ve still got the bottles of whiskey under my bed that my dad bought me for my 21st.”   
“What about your essay?”  
“It’s not due in until Tuesday.”  
“Oh.”

And that’s how they ended up getting filthily wasted at 1 am.

“So what’s your type then, Mr. Observant?” Arthur asked him a little after 2 am, slurring a little into his glass. Arthur was drunk as hell but it was his fault, he’d made them play 'Roxanne’, the Moulin Rogue version.  
“Hmmm,” Merlin speculated. They’d ended up both squished onto Merlin’s bed, the intense closeness to Arthur was intoxicating, almost painful. “Blond hair, blue eyes.” Stop describing Arthur. Stop describing Arthur. “Not a total prat.”  
Arthur laughed.  
“That rules me out then.”   
Merlin shrugged. He didn’t trust his voice. He was worried if he opened his mouth, his drunken brain would make him say 'no it doesn’t rule you out’.   
“That guy… that guy was blonde,” Arthur said quietly.  
“Edwin?” Merlin had told Arthur Edwin’s name several times since last Thursday but he still seemed to forget it every time.  
“Yeah.”  
“You said he wasn’t your type,” Arthur said, his eyes were closed now, he seemed to be drifting off into a drunken unconsciousness. "What about Will?“  
"What about him?”   
“You’re not still, you know, pining after him or something girly?”  
Merlin had told Arthur near the beginning of the year about Will. They’d been together for two years but after Merlin decided to go to university, it had fallen apart. They were still friends, still chatted sometimes but that’s all it was. Merlin had never been particularly heart broken about it, they’d been drifting apart for months, turns out they’d always been better as friends.   
“No, definitely not still 'pining’ after Will.”  
Arthur was almost asleep. He should go over and sleep in Arthur’s bed, that would be the appropriate thing to do.   
“I’m going to go get in your bed, Arthur,” he said into his ear, savouring the closeness for one more minute before lifting himself up. But suddenly Arthur’s hand was around his wrist keeping him there. v  
“No,” Arthur said sleepily, eyes still shut. “Stay.”  
“Arthur.”  
“I’ll keep you safe. Just stay. Please.”  
And how could Merlin say no to that? He laid back down and Arthur wrapped a leg over Merlin’s and Merlin wondered how much of this Arthur would even remember in the morning.

***

Merlin woke to the soft smell of Arthur’s hair, mm.. pine needles, his nose pressed into the nape of his neck. He knew he should move but come on, this would probably never happen again, he could take five minutes for himself. Plus, Arthur was probably still asleep. Merlin dared to do something he really, really shouldn’t. He pressed a soft kiss into Arthur’s neck but Arthur immediately tensed.  
“Merlin,” he said, his voice strangled. Fuck, fuck fuck. “Thinking I’m someone else?” Oh thank God, he was giving him a way out.   
“Er yes,” he said retracting himself. “Sorry, I used to wake up with Will like this all the time. I guess my brain hasn’t caught up yet,” he said faking an awkward laugh. Fuck.  
“Don’t worry about it,” Arthur said, sitting up and rubbing his head. “How much did we drink last night?”  
Merlin looked over to the empty bottle and a half of whiskey.  
“A lot.”  
“Right, well get up Merlin.”  
“But it’s only…” Merlin leaned over to check the clock. “…fuck, it’s 11 already.”  
“Exactly and I’m starved.”  
“How long have you been awake?”  
Arthur stood from the bed, going over to find some clothes to change in to.  
“Er I’m not sure.”  
“You should’ve woken me up.”  
“You know what you’re like when someone wakes you up, Merlin. I didn’t want to risk it,” he said piling clothes into his arms and heading to the bathroom. “And if you’re not dressed by the time I come out, I am going to breakfast without you.”


	3. Chapter 3

Arthur agreed to come to the next gig, turns out almost being beaten up was a good enough excuse to haul his arse there. He always had to be so righteous. Merlin had told him he could look after himself but Arthur wouldn’t hear it. Plus, Morgana was back from placement so they were all going.  
They played a two hour set and he met them afterwards at their usual table, a noticeable sprinkling of empty glasses lined the table, probably Morgana’s work. 

“Merlin,” Morgana smiled, “you never told me you write music.”   
Shit.  
“What?”  
“The last song, that was yours, no?” 

She was, of course, right. Morgana was always right and fuck, intuitive as hell. Merlin had been writing music on and off for years but never played any of it in public. Lance had overheard him warming up using one of his own creations and asked him to play it, which Merlin had agreed as long as they didn’t say it was written by him. 

“You wrote that song?” Arthur asked scandalised, staring off to the stage as if re-envisioning the entire set. “Seriously, how many secret, hidden talents do you have?”  
“How did you know?” Merlin asked completely ignoring Arthur because he knew they’d be some kind of barbed comment or criticism coming after that exclamation. He’d almost admitted Merlin to be talented.  
“Oh Merlin,” Morgana said simply as if the whole thing had been incredibly obvious. “You know I think everyone in this room wants to fuck you,” she said instead of any kind of explanation. Merlin blushed again.   
“I wouldn’t say everyone,” Arthur added, but looking round the room despite his objections.  
Morgana gave him a meaningful and sour look before saying, “I would… anyway, Merlin,"she said turning to him. "Come get drinks with me. I think the bartender might give us from free ones if you’re with me.”   
And because you always did what Morgana said, he did.

She was right, once again. The bartender gave Merlin a big bright smile and offered them both a free shot whilst they ordered their other drinks.   
“So,” Morgana hedged, leaning over to him so only he could hear her. “How’s the big gay crush on my cousin going?”   
Merlin almost choked on his shot and stared up at her. He hadn’t dared tell anyone, not even Gwen. Despite what Arthur thought Merlin was actually rather good at keeping secrets. Fucking brilliant at it in fact.  
“Morgana, I don’t…” he began but she gave him one of her pointed looks which meant 'don’t even try lying to me, Merlin’. Merlin swallowed his pride. It probably wouldn’t be worth lying about it now, she’d never believe him.   
“It’s, you know, going alright,” he finally answered, not meeting her eyes. “How did you realise?”  
“Isn’t it obvious?”  
Merlin froze a little.   
“Does he know?” He asked even though he wasn’t sure he wanted an answer.  
“No,” Morgana said quickly, reassuringly. “As usual, he is entirely oblivious.”  
Merlin sighed, relieved. It would be such a fucking disaster if he found out and he really didn’t fancy trying to find a new room mate when Arthur freaked out, which he surely would.   
“You know, you should really do something about it, Merlin,” she said and then swanned off carrying most of the drinks with her.   
For the third time that night, Merlin couldn’t help thinking how right Morgana was. He did need to do something about and get over Arthur for God’s sake! He was pining like a school boy and it was ridiculous. Never fall in love with someone who is straight, that’s what Will had told him all those years ago and it couldn’t be more precedent than now.   
And so for the second time, Merlin turned to a stranger. A nice smiling stranger who served up drinks, sounds like his kind of guy. So maybe he didn’t have bright blue eyes and short soft hair that smelt like pine needles, and a wit sharper than Benedict Cumberbatch’s cheekbones, so what? Who cares? He didn’t need those things. He really, really didn’t.

***

Merlin had gotten good at the 2 am drunk walk home now, knowing where the cracked pavements were as to not stumble. Gwen, Morgana, Lance and Arthur had all disappeared throughout the night, scattering off, probably heading home. Merlin had lost track of them, particularly Arthur which he’d made a point of not looking in his direction all night.   
He’d planned to head home to the barman’s house (Peter, no something weirder like Percy or… Percival) but as it turned out, he wasn’t really interested in sleeping with him. Apparently that soft hair and sharp wit was somewhat important to him after all.

He staggered into the door, fully expecting a sleeping Arthur to grunt at him in protest but it was a different kind of grunting that he was confronted to.   
Now, this, this was something Merlin had not been expecting. Not been expecting at all. Maybe he would have been expecting Arthur pushing some girl up against his wardrobe but he definitely wasn’t expecting to see Arthur pinned up against it by some guy.   
“Uhhh,” Merlin said, so very eloquently and he may have tripped on the door frame but he could probably blame that on the six shots the barman had fed him. “This is double standards!” He protested, throwing up his arms. He really didn’t know what to do. There was a great sense of absolute horror that he might suddenly burst into tears, he shouldn’t have drunk so much, maybe then this wouldn’t feel so horrible.  
The guy had pulled off of Arthur and was mumbling some kind of apology. Arthur looked wrecked and was still leaning against the wardrobe as if it was the only thing holding him up. 

“I’m gonna go,” the guy said, gathering up his coat. At least their house guests were always polite.   
“Call me!” Arthur, what could only be described as, yelled after the guy as he bolted out of the door.   
“He seemed… nice,” Merlin said but it didn’t have the casual tone he meant it to have, it sounded bitter and resentful. Actually the guy had seemed quite nice but Merlin really didn’t care that much about that right now.   
“What happened to not bringing guys back to the flat?” He asked, actually more like, he snapped.  
“I assumed you’d be going back with that bar tender,” Arthur shrugged, trying to peel himself off of the wardrobe.   
Well, Arthur had gotten him there. It did seem like he would have been going back with that guy but still, this was all, this was all too weird.  
“So, he?” Merlin waved his arms around as if that finished his question.  
“Yes, he.”  
“I didn’t realise.”  
“Well, now you do,” Arthur said and finally managed to flop onto his bed.   
Merlin’s heart was racing. So Arthur was into guys but still, that didn’t mean Merlin stood a chance. It was still Arthur, gorgeous, funny, way out of his league Arthur.   
“So you liked him, huh?” Merlin said and god, he was trying not to sound like a petulant child.   
“He was… alright,” Arthur said staring so intently at the ceiling.   
“Just alright?”  
“He’s not really…” Arthur paused, “my type.” He said echoing Merlin’s words back. Merlin nodded. Yeah, he could understand that.   
“Why did you come back with him then?”   
“You know, Merlin, it’s like being on a diet.”   
“Huh?” Merlin sat down on his own bed and watched Arthur stare into blankness, not once did he look at Merlin.   
“Sometimes you want chocolate but you’re not allowed it so you have to get that dairy free crap.”  
“Arthur, what are you talking about?”   
“Fucking chocolate, Merlin. I’m talking about fucking chocolate,” he bit out and turned away from Merlin to face the wall. He sounded so angry but Merlin did just essentially cock block him so that was fair.   
“Arthur?” Merlin tried.  
“Go to sleep, Merlin,” he said, not turning around.   
Arthur didn’t say anything else and Merlin was scared to push him. He was obviously pissed off. Eventually Merlin fell into a dreamless sleep but woke up to the phantom smell of pine.


	4. Chapter 4

It was the last gig of the month and Merlin was admittedly, a little disappointed. He knew it was temporary but still let himself into the fantasy that it would continue. He liked playing, he especially liked playing his own songs, still all good things come to an end, as they say.  
Merlin was stood, dark eye liner and The Clash top (once again from Lance), smiling broadly. Hell, if this was the last time he was going to play, he was going to be damn happy about it. 

After the gig, the melancholy set in a little but Arthur was waiting with a pint for him and it seemed a bit less awful. He did, however, find himself scanning the room for that guy Arthur had brought back the previous Thursday. He definitely hadn’t been obsessing about it all week, and definitely, definitely hadn’t been thinking a lot about chocolate and what the fuck Arthur had been going on about.

“You were amazing, of course,” Gwen said giving him a kiss on the cheek. Morgana had come once again and she was gorgeous as always.  
“Yes, absolutely sensational. Played another one of your songs I see,” Morgana said knowingly and Merlin just shrugged.   
“Which one?” Arthur asked.   
“Er one kind of near the end,” Merlin said, being intentionally as vague as possible.   
“Oh that’s fucking helpful, Merlin,” Arthur grumbled.  
“As you all know my birthday is fast approaching,” Morgana announced. Merlin was pleased for the chance of conversation. “I am going to be throwing an absolutely fabulous birthday party at our house on Drury. Everyone must attend and dress to impress, though I’m sure everyone will look fabulous,” she smiled and then winked at Merlin which made him feel pretty confused actually.

The evening was pretty well rounded for once. Merlin stayed by Arthur’s side in fear that he’d wonder off and find some guy that was his type and then subject him to letting him take the guy back to theirs. Merlin just couldn’t stand it. If it was going to happen, Merlin didn’t need to know about it, let alone bare witness to it.  
Arthur and Merlin walked back together, a gentle hum of alcohol in their veins. And that’s when they bumped into them, the three guys.   
“Oh shit,” Merlin muttered under his breath. Too quietly for the guys to hear but not Arthur. As it seemed they were keeping to themselves, if they’d seen Merlin then they were pretending they hadn’t. One guy beating all of them must have hurt their pride a bit.   
“What?” Arthur demanded.  
“Nothing,” Merlin said, trying not to draw attention to them but Arthur followed his line of sight straight to them.  
“Them?” Arthur said. “They were the guys, weren’t they?”   
“No…”  
“Don’t lie to me, Merlin,” Arthur said angrily.   
“Okay, maybe, they were.”  
“Alright,” he said evenly but he was rolling up his sleeves like some thug out of a gangster film or something.   
“Leave it, Arthur. I told the uni, they’re going to check CCTV and take them in. Anyway, they really didn’t do that much damage.”  
“Jesus, Merlin. They almost broke your nose, that’s enough damage to me.”  
“I didn’t realise you cared so much,” Merlin jibbed. But Arthur looked deadly serious.  
“You think it’s alright for three guys to pick on one guy,” Arthur called over to them and they all looked up now. Fuck.   
“Damn it, Arthur, do you always have to be so fucking righteous,” Merlin growled next to him.   
They didn’t approach. They watched Merlin warily.  
“We don’t want any trouble,” one of them called back.  
“Didn’t seem that way the other night,” Arthur said back, crossing his arms. Did he really think crossing his arms made him look more intimidating?  
“It was our mistake, it won’t happen again.”  
“We won’t- we won’t hurt your boyfriend again,” another one of them added. Arthur frowned a little but didn’t correct them.   
“That’s fucking right, you’re leave him the fuck alone.”  
“Yeah, okay,” the guy replied. And they skulked off pretty quickly.  
“Looks like you scared them right off, Arthur,” Merlin said smiling one of those fake smiles.   
“Yes normally I would completely agree, Merlin. But as it turns out, I think it would be safe to say that it wasn’t me they were scared of.”  
“What?”  
“The way they were looking at you, Merlin…” he trailed off. “When you said I should see the other guys, I didn’t know you actually meant it.”  
Merlin was caught off guard, he was used to Arthur swallowing his lies so easily.  
“What can I say? I’m actually quite good in a fight.” He said smiling a real smile at Arthur now. “Agile.”  
“Is this another one of your secret, hidden talents, Merlin?”  
“I did try to tell you I had talents.”  
“And don’t I know it,” Arthur mumbled but it was so quiet Merlin wasn’t quite sure he should’ve heard.

***

Back at the flat, things were awkward, Arthur seemed deep in thought on the way back, hardly chatting at all. Merlin wanted more than anything to ask him what he meant about the chocolate but he was scared Arthur would just shut him out completely.   
In the end, it was Arthur who reached out to him.  
“Have you ever been in love, Merlin?” He asked as Merlin was getting into bed. Merlin froze. .  
“Yes, I think so,” Merlin said, trying not to let his emotions show on his face.  
“With Will?”  
Hmm, how did he answer this tactfully.   
“Among others.”  
“How many people have you been in love exactly, you big girl?” Arthur said breaking some of the tension.  
“You’re the one that started the heart to heart.”  
“I did no such thing. I just asked a simple question.”  
The room fell silent again.  
“Two, I guess. But I really could question if I’d ever been truly in love with Will. We were so young at the time.” These were things he never really said to anyone and he hoped Arthur wouldn’t ridicule him.  
Arthur just nodded slowly and then turned to look at him accusingly.  
“And?”   
“And what?”  
“The other one? It has to be someone at uni, surely. Someone after Will.”  
Merlin felt trapped and suddenly very vulnerable.  
“What about you?”  
“I see what you’re doing Merlin, avoiding the question.”  
“Well, it feels like a very one-sided conversation.”  
Arthur sighed.   
“I don’t know, Merlin, I don’t want to talk about it.”  
“Is this about chocolate, Arthur?”  
“Yes, Merlin, it’s about chocolate.”  
So Merlin’s worst fears were confirmed, Arthur was harbouring some big crush on someone, maybe even, love  
“See, I’m all about pine needles myself.”  
“Pine needles?” Arthur said scrunching up his brow in confusion.  
“Yes.”  
“Jesus Merlin, pine needles wouldn’t taste nice. What on earth are you on about?”  
“Go to sleep, Arthur,” Merlin said and it felt good to have the upper hand for once.   
“You are so weird, Merlin. So very, very strange,” Arthur mumbled but turned over and went to sleep like Merlin had told him to do.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now for a birthday party.

Dress to impress was right. Merlin was standing in the doorway of Morgana’s house and he was trying not to stare, god he really was trying. But Arthur was wearing a clean cut grey suit that Morgana insisted he wear and boy did he look good in it. Merlin was in a black suit, with a blue tie that Gwen had said 'brought out his eyes’. Arthur looked up at him and Merlin averted his gaze.  
“You know, you don’t look like such a prat when you’re all dolled up,” Arthur said patting him on the shoulder.  
“Well, not all of us walk around constantly dolled up like we’re the prince of Wales or something.”  
“Ha ha ha, another 'you’re rich’ joke, very original, Merlin.”

Gwen had a long purple dress on that accented her figure if Lance’s eye-line was anything to go by. And Morgana looked insanely hot in a plunge line black dress. Actually a lot of people looked insanely hot, how did Morgana even know this many people? 

The night centred heavily around getting as drunk as possible, with drinking games and a fully stocked alcohol table which Merlin imagined Uther probably funded. The night was going exceedingly well until he overheard Arthur and Morgana sharing hushed words in the bathroom. He knew he shouldn’t listen but fuck, who was he kidding? Of course, he was going to listen.

“Please stop moping around, Arthur.”  
“I know, I’m sorry, it’s your birthday.”  
“If you’d just do as I told you,” she said probably making some kind of gesture Merlin couldn’t see.  
“I’d rather not fuck everything up when he rejects me.” Chocolate. So it was at least a 'him’ then. A small flame of hope ignited under his skin, maybe just maybe Arthur harboured feelings for Merlin after all. Merlin had rejected the idea from the start because of how brilliant Arthur was, Arthur could have anyone he liked.  
“You never listen to anything I tell you, do you?”  
“He is so painfully out of my league.” His flame of hope crushed, that could never be him.  
“Yes,” Morgana agreed. “But I fear he thinks the same about you.”  
“Either get over him or get under him, Arthur,” Morgana said quietly. “Someone else is going to snap him up soon, you see and when that happens you’ll only have yourself to blame. You are such a bitter person when you’re jealous.”  
Arthur sighed, loud enough for Merlin to be able to hear it through the door. 

Suddenly the door opened and he was face to face with Morgana who looked, for once, completely shocked.  
“Merlin,” she said immediately smiling. “Eavesdropping were we?”  
“No er I was just going to the bathroom,” he put on the best look of innocence he could muster.  
Arthur looked paralysed, blood draining out of his face, obviously being caught talking about his feelings didn’t fit well with him.  
“Jesus, Merlin, you should wear a bell or something, christ,” Arthur growled, striding out of the bathroom and past him.  
“Come Merlin, I want to introduce you to some people,” Morgana purred taking his hand.  
“I was going to go to the bathroom.”  
“No, you weren’t.”

The 'people’ Morgana wanted to introduce him to turned out to be the unfathomably attractive, Gwaine.  
Who, apparently, had seen him at the gigs and couldn’t stop telling him how impressed he was.  
Gwaine had a hand on Merlin’s waist as he leant in to tell him a story about his travels before university when he stopped suddenly.  
“I don’t think you’re boyfriend likes me very much,” he said quietly.  
“Who?”  
Gwaine jabbed a thumb to the right of the room where Arthur was stood staring daggers at the both of them and swaying slightly.  
“That’s not my boyfriend,” Merlin replied.  
“Could have fooled me,” Gwaine shrugged.

And what exactly was Arthur’s problem? Merlin had a horribly cold feeling that maybe Gwaine was Arthur’s chocolate, the guy he had been talking about in the bathroom. Was this Morgana trying to make him jealous enough to snap? To as it were, get under Gwaine? Merlin suddenly felt sick. He nodded good night to Gwaine and wondered off, finding himself outside in the brisk air. He sat down on the front steps and just breathed. He tried to remember a time where his every thought didn’t circle back to Arthur fucking Pendragon.

Merlin let the night air fill him up. He didn’t know how long he sat there until he heard footsteps behind him.  
“Not your type either?” Arthur asked, sitting down next to him.  
“Who? Gwaine?”  
“Yeah.”  
“I thought I might be walking on thin ice.”  
“What?”  
“Chocolate.”  
“What?”  
“I thought he might have been the guy you were talking about.”  
“Oh.”  
“I mean he was so terribly out of your league.”  
“So you were eavesdropping?”  
“I didn’t mean to.”  
Merlin sighed. He was so tired of all of this.  
“So, is he?” He asked.  
“No, Merlin.”  
“I find it hard to believe, I mean aside of course from Gwaine, that they’d be anyone that was 'out of your league,” Merlin admitted. He wasn’t sure why, maybe it was the alcohol, maybe he just couldn’t be bothered to lie.  
“This guy, he just is. He’s so gorgeous, Merlin, he truly is.”  
Merlin wasn’t sure he wanted to hear any of this, but he nodded.  
“You wouldn’t think so but he is, everyone else thinks so.” Arthur smiled to himself, cold and distant. “And he’s so very smart, and talented. Have I mentioned how talented he is? He’s good at bloody everything, I swear to God. And he’s modest to an extreme point like he doesn’t even recognise these things in himself. And he’s kind and brave and loyal.”  
“He does sound out of your league.”  
“It doesn’t help that everyone is constantly drooling over him like puppies, he could have anyone he wanted including the very out of my league, Gwaine.”  
“Arthur,” Merlin began but really had no more to that sentence.  
“And it really, really doesn’t help that he brings guys back to our flat and I have to listen to someone else touching him.”  
“Arthur,” Merlin said again. Everything was becoming humid and slow. Was Arthur really saying these things. Was this actually happening? Could Arthur have been talking about him this whole time? “Are you- are you talking about me?”  
“Ah, see there’s that modesty I was talking about. You can never see when I’m trying to give you a damn compliment.”  
Merlin couldn’t breath. His hands were shaking so hard and he held them together to try and hide it.  
“I really don’t want to have to see you with other guys, Merlin,” Arthur said so quietly, so uncharacteristically.  
“I don’t want to be with other guys, Arthur,” he said evenly, finally looking over into Arthur’s eyes. “Just you.”  
It was all very slow, like they were both terrified that the other would frighten off and then it would be broken. They leant in like you would to a scared animal, tentative and cautious. Their lips brushed just gently, just once, soft, delicate.  
“Did we just have a moment?” Merlin said breathy.  
“Well, don’t fucking ruin it, you prat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please let me know what you thought; as I said it's my first merthur fic and I'd love to know what people's opinions were. 
> 
> Also find me on tumblr at: this-total-fuck


End file.
